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Are You Afraid of the Dark? Season 4 Episode 12: The Tale of the Closet Keepers

“Yes! He admits it!”- Kiki

Tonight’s tale is brought to us by the most misunderstood member of the Midnight Society, Kiki. Let’s face it, we know really nothing about her other than her love of hats and bandanas. She kind of keeps to herself as we have no insight into her family life, other than she has a snoring aunt named Stephanie, who Sam knows about, but we know enough about her, to realize that these (the Midnight Society), are probably her best friends. So when she came to the meeting dressed up in her formal wear, it blew their minds (except Betty Ann, as I have a feeling she helped Kiki out with this one).

The night starts out like many others, with Tucker relaxing and reading a comic and The Gary poking the fire.

“Now remember Tucker when she arrives we yell out surprise!”- The Gary

Sam and Frank arrive together and appear to be happy. They are laughing and it is really pissing off The Gary.

“Guys Kiki, is picking her up right now, they should be here any minute!”- Sam

Sam inquires who is up, and The Gary says Kiki. Well this news doesn’t sit well with Tucker, who says “Kiki, she just told one.” The Gary in a rather stern voice says “So.” Tucker than says “So what happened? Did she threaten to pound you if you didn’t give her another turn?” Frank chimes in with “Ha ha ha I bet she could too.” Sam looks a little uncomfortable with the situation.

“I forgot the beer and pizza, sorry Gar.”- Frank

Then Betty Ann shows up and for some reason feels compelled to announce the arrival of Kiki. Betty Ann clears her throat and says “Wait till you guys see this..”

“You guys won’t believe who they got to MC the next tournament!”- Betty AnnI am not sure if this is what she meant, but this is the shot after she says it. Someone should tell Betty Ann that her shoe laces are two different colors.

Then Kiki comes into the clearing and it is kind of awkward, because Kiki is dressed in a dress complete with tin foil in her hair. She looks kind of like she is uncomfortable in what she is wearing, but did it to please someone like a grandmother.

This of course blows their minds as they have never seen Kiki look so feminine before and without a hat or bandana. Both Frank and The Gary give her cat calls, while Tucker is so shocked he goes up to Kiki. Tucker says to Kiki “I don’t believe it, you look like..like..a girl!” To which Kiki says “What did you think I was squirt?”

Tucker hit puberty at this very moment and Kiki would forever be his first crush

The Gary ask “Did you do this for your story?” Frank follows up by saying “Woa this could be really scary.”

Mind is blown

Kiki responds with “I’m doing this to make a statement. Everybody’s got more than one side, so don’t think you know everything about someone by looking at them one way. (hints the dress and tin foil) If you do that you could miss out on a whole lot beneath the surface…and that could be a major mistake. Because what ya don’t know about somebody could turn out to be the one thing your life depends on.

“See you guys shouldn’t judge me and think I live a dull life.”- Betty Ann

Then Kiki submits her story as The Tale of the Closet Keepers.

I call this story: The Tale of the Closet Keepers

Kiki starts the story off by narrating “Stacy was smart, funny, pretty and better at hoops than just about every guy in school. (sounds autobiographical) But some kids didn’t see any of that,” Stacy and her friends are walking to the basketball court, where the town jackass Billy refuses to play with her since she is deaf (Kiki left that part out). So Stacy doesn’t the one thing that comes natural to her, she runs-away to an abandoned warehouse, which is where the MIB is hiding.

Kiki er I mean StacyThis is Billy, he doesn’t like deaf people

When Stacy runs into the building she sees these guys:

MIB pre Will Smith days

They recite their vows and say “No geeks, no nerds, no freaks.” They apparently do not know what the phrases mean, so they turn to their Apple watches and ask Siri, who tells them they are characteristics to avoid when abducting er bringing a child against their will back tot he compound.

“I am sorry I do not understand: No Geeks, no nerds, no freaks.”- Siri

So the MIB go on in search of children, while Stacy investigates the situation. She goes up stairs only to find a glowing room with a giant phallus:

I can only imagine the description Kiki gave for this part of the story…

The phallus transports Stacy to some kind of room with maps on the wall. She tries to look around, bur two new MIB appear with horrible English accents and bowler hats. I get that these are aliens, but at least the ones in The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor, had believable accents and acted semi-normal. Also the map is a touch screen.

The two MIB who Stacy saw earlier are now trying to abduct Billy. They awkwardly complement his basketball skills and paralyze him with sound.

“AWWW anything but Brian Adams!”- Billy

We than cut back to Stacy who accidentally know over some silver bowls and gets the attention of the two English MIB. They think their equipment is broken since it doesn’t work on her. They chase her into the holding cells, that keep the children in using sound bars. It honestly looks like a disco nightmare. Stacy is then thrown into a cell where she meets this guy:

It’s the keeper. Dr. Vink’s less attractive brother Hermit

She realizes that she is an exhibit when this happens, she sees Tralfamadorians!:

“Look son an Earthling.”- Mother Alien

The Keeper tells her that they are her public and that he was expecting a boy. Also all the furniture is fake, the bed is as hard as plastic. He then tells her that he is running a zoo. He is super excited about the snack bar. He also thinks that Stacy is dumb (cause he doesn’t know she is deaf).

The Keeper tells her “At first the sound merely paralyzes, after that your mind will feel as if it’s seeping out of your ears.” This doesn’t bother Stacy since she is deaf. At some point later that day, Billy is thrown into the same cell. Rather than being happy about known someone, he complains that he is stuck with the deaf girl. I find it odd that Billy thinks talking loud to a deaf girl, will get her to hear him. Billy tries to escape and gets hit by the sound bars.

They are then treated to a lunch of lime jell-o, which the blond girl is happy Stacy is deaf.

Yum it’s Jell-o again…

The kids come up with an escape plan using Stacy. Billy inquires to the girl where they are and she tells him “We call it the future, they call it the past.” The kids also do not have a concept of time, but to be fair they also do not have clocks that are not painted on to the walls. Billy doesn’t understand why they are making such a big deal about Stacy being deaf, but the girl tells him “Don’t you see the keepers use sound to keep us in.”

Then the Keeper comes back and says “Children should be seen, not heard!”, I guess they got parenting lessons from the 1800’s. The Keeper tells the cleaner that when he is finished, they have to collect Stacy and get rid of her. Stacy apparently can read lips and understands what he is saying and freaks out a little.

Billy inquires as to what the matter is with Stacy, and she tells him that she is dead. He tells her to run since the sound cannot hurt her, but something is keeping her in the zoo and it is Billy! She then talks to Billy in a rather clear voice and now I am confused, is she not deaf or is she just hard of hearing?

They come up with a plain, Stacy frees the kids and guide them into the room where they can get into the giant phallus and go home. First Stacy tricks the guards and makes the alarm go off:

“We can dance, We can dance, everyone look at your hands”- Men without Hats

Stacy tells the kids to point where they are from on the map and then to get into the phallus.

“I’m from here”

They successfully send all the kids home, but then get cornered by the Keeper. He uses the sound gun on her and she pretends to hold her ears until she is near a button. Once their the Keeper tells her she should push it or she will hurt her friend, but with Billy’s covering his ears she hits it and they make their escape. Once back home Billy and Stacy become friends.

Billy thanking Stacy using ASL

Then Kiki narrates “After their strange adventure, Stacy and Billy became friends. No one believed their story about the zoo, but they always knew they could talk about it with each other. Then she does this:

Kiki then says “The End.” Who knew Kiki knew ASL or I guess CSL in this case. Then The Gary declares the meeting closed.

“On the count of 3 guys..1,2,3 SURPRISE Betty Ann”- Everyone

After The Gary declares the meeting over Kiki gets up and is leaving with Betty Ann catches up to her and says “Kiki, you want to go shopping tomorrow?”

“Wow Kiki thanks for throwing me a surprise party.”- Betty Ann

Kiki replies with “Get real.” The two of them leave laughing together.

“Anything for my best friend”- Kiki

Then The Gary and Frank call it a trues and Tucker hitches a ride from Sam because apparently giving Tucker piggy back rides is now a thing.

“Gary…I have some news, My family is moving, so next week is my last meeting.”- Frank

Moira’s Thoughts:

Overall this is a great episode. I can’t help but wonder if the Stacy in this episode is the same one from Apartment 214 or if Kiki just ran out of female names to use. I also think it was interesting how Kiki paralleled the story to her life, in that the gang shouldn’t judge her based on what she wears.

Good story and creepy vilian

If you got my Slaughter-house Five reference, we are now besties.

I feel that Kiki and Betty Ann have gotten closer in friendship, but Kiki doesn’t like Betty Ann’s fashion sense.

I liked the interaction among the Midnight Society in this episode.

There are several parallels between this story and my favorite book Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. We have two people who are abducted by aliens and then put into a zoo for their amusement. It is like the writers of the show wanted a toned down version of the story for this episode. I think that is wonderful!

So lets give Kiki an ASL round of applause *shakes hands in the air*, for her story, The Tale of the Closet Keepers. Up next is our last tale of season 4 and our last every story from resident bad boy Frank Moore, as he tells us about a different kind of magic in his story: The Tale of Train Magic.

Not really episode related, but I have been ask to interview the composer of the new Are You Afraid of the Dark? Tribute film, which is scheduled for release on Halloween 2017. The interview is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, and I should have it up before I leave for Hawaii. If you have any questions you want me to ask, leave them below or shot me an email! movie trailer

While it is not the people who I have set out to try and interview, it is a stepping stone that might lead to it!

Until next time… Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story: The Tale of Moira’s Afraid of the Dark? (But not really), Blog number 12 of Season 4.

I would like to interview *cough*Ross Hull or Raine Pare-Coull or Jodie Resther, *cough* I feel that if enough people tweet at them or Facebook them, and let them know about this blog, it can happen! Let’s make my dream come true!

Published by Moira is Afraid of the Dark? (But not really)

I am a student at University of Hawaii at Manoa. I blog when I am suppose to be listening in class or at my desk shift to fill a 3 hour void in my life. I blog about the best show of the 90's, Are You Afraid of the Dark? I hope you enjoy this blog and if you happen to know anyone from the show please feel free to guide them this way. Who is your favorite story teller and character from the show? Feel free to shoot me an email!
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